Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-17
THE BABY.
4 Series Of Letters from Marion HRr-
land to Those Who Are the Mothers
of Immortal Beings.
The Baby's Imagination Il Don't Play
Upon It-Mfseries of
misconceptions.
BY MARION HARLAND.

] y
Copyright, 1887, by the Author
! We have said that our children are
/ born "belieFing sill things" Conscience
is a graft upon memory. The child is
warned to avoid ! certain sin, or not to
repeat an offsnse, and little by little dis
tinguishes by these helps between good
and evil. judgment is the fruiG of ex-
perience. Imagination IS natural
growth that in early years before bsby
has studied perspective threatens to root
out everything else. The infant mind
teens with "wonder stories" In his
outlook black shadows impiuge directly
upon radiance, and everything is in the
foreground.
We think and speak of the absolute
dependence OF our little ones upon US
Imagine because they multiply questions
by question, that they empty heart and
head into our ears. Whereas, they keep
more to themselves than we d.. Some
thing holds back the child from COntding
TO the tendeTeSt of mothers the opinion
he has formed for himself, the fancy he
has nursed into gigantic proportions, the
haunting fears that never leave his
waking thoughts. What is the subtle
motive that keeps him silent throughout
the process Of reasoning and the pain Ct
conviction? a word would scatter his
breads, calm sentence bring balance
and beauty in his world. but he doesn't
give opportunity for either.
Why did not we in those far of, unfOr-
gotten times when we manufactured our
own hObgobIins, and kept the KEY Of our
skeleton closets even more jealousy than
now; where the darkness was peOpled
with awful shapes and solitude, vocal
why did we not give our worst terrOrs
voice? Oar nurses frightened Us with
tales Of DOGGY and ghost; pointed out
cracks in the ceiling, defining trap doors
through which dreadful creatures had g
way Of dropping upon the beds of unrea-
sOnable and Wakeful children. We were
beSet behind and before by lions that, like
the beast following Christian in the Valley
of the Shadow of Death, came on with
hollow roaring and ct g great padding
pace--yet we never lispGda syllable of our
infantiIe terrOTs to human soul.
Shall I ever, l wonder, lose the agony
out of the recollection of the torture | en-
dured in consequence of q conversa alton
held between my father and neighbOr
over their cigars as 10 the practiC6bi ity of
opening the Panama canal? The neigh
bora bald man with g student voice
held that the consequence Of the
"cut" through the iSthmus me
spoke as if il were about DAYS
work for 9 stout labOrer) would be the
suDmeTsiOn OF the eastern shore lands OF
our continent, the sea level Of one ocean
being thirty or forty feet higher than the
other. My father listened grayeIy, and
before he expressed MS opinion in full,
my bedtime came. My nurse was
nanny of the most indulgent stamp, but
| never thought of telling heY why | took
so long to say my prayers, or why my
teeth Chartered although the night was
mild. When my mother looked into my
room on her way to bed l was wide awake
and surprised her by asking how high my
window was from the ground.
"AbOut fifteen feet" she answered
'My little girl is not foolish enough to
think of robbers, / hOpt?"
l turned my face away with 8 sleepy
mumur. I could not tell her that | had
listened, hour after hour, for the swash of
the salt tjGe, yet hoping that we might be
above the crest OF the incoming food;
that, again and again, deceived by the
rush Of the wind in the tree tops, | had
jumped out of bed and strained nv ewes
into the mOonlighted east IN distance,
installing the CLINT of the beams on the
tossing corn fields for the leap of the
caves. We were $50 miles inland, but
Shat did not lessen the danger to my ap-
.prehensiOn. As days went by and we
remained high and dry, and there was no
more talk Of submerSiOn, my dread sub
sided as silently as it had been born.
Forty odd years have brought the high
tide on the coast Of Virginia no nearer
than on the aight of unspOken horrors.
The seal set on my lips then was the
same that holds back the confession OF
your child's fearsome fancies, her chimer-
iCaI speculations. Children are more apt
to keep terror than Joy 70 themselves. 1t
may be that they shrink from clothing ia
words what fills their souls with fright,
lest the utterance may bind the fear
more securely upon them. O., language,
as they can command it, is vehicle too
weak to bear the weight Of the thing.
We only know that they suffer and con-
ceal; set out in the strength OF glorious
antiCipatiOns of digging up the pot Of
gold at the end of the rainbow, and IN
earth-what their elders find there every
day-Heaven help US all.
Papa drops q surly word at breakfast
when asked for mOney-Of the herd
times and the danger of the poor house,
and RJbby meditetes all the day, and as
far into the night as youth will carry his
waking thoughts, upon tie feasibility of
getting p ace as cash-boy in a store that
may, at least, keep mamma and the baby
from starving.
Mamma AYERS to q visitor in Carry's
hearing, thai she believes this cold in the
head "wiIl be the death" of her. The
little daughter endures for weeks the
harrasing foreboding of orphsnsge; hangs
upon mamma with passionate c9resses,
aud Wistiul gaze; listens tremblingIy TO
every aliusion to the fatal maledy from
which the patient RECEIVERS sooner tlan
the faithful heart from the wrench dealt
it by the careless speech.
We have no right to play idly upon sen
sIbilities so exquisite. It is our right to
coax into expression the secret fears that
cloud young eyes; TO beguiIe our children
by every tactful and tender art into full
ness of confidence; to teach them to bring
their burdens, great and small, to Us as
we cast ours upon the Divine heart, in
full assurance Of appreciation and sym